New Mandala

Following Andrew’s extensive reviews of the recently released UNDP report that puts “sufficiency economy” at the heart of Thailand’s human development, The Economist has launched its own broadside at the Thai junta and its economic philosophy.  Anybody serious about understanding why so many people around the world are concerned about the direction of Thailand’s political-economy [...]

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Back in February 2005, the first time I travelled to Mong La in the far eastern Shan State, its days as a major gambling centre had just ended.  The hulking shapes of the casinos dotted around town still gave some indication of the money and people that once flowed through its gambling dens.  Back then, the Chinese government had just [...]

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This is my fourth post on Thailand’s 2007 Human Development Report. It discusses chapter 3, “Sufficiency economy in action”.
This chapter is another public relations piece for the sufficiency economy approach. It discusses a range of broadly defined sufficiency economy initiatives at local, corporate and national levels. The main case study discussed is the Inpaeng Network [...]

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This is my third post on the 2007 Human Development Report for Thailand. Regular New Mandala reader Vichai reflects on my motivation for writing these pieces:
Either you are being stupid or you are merely being malicious. Or your master has given you instruct[ions] to pursue this nonsense or you won’t get paid.
After the Christmas season [...]

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